Posted by Brad Beldner
a resident of Midtown
on Aug 2, 2007 at 8:06 pm

Hi Everybody, I am currently engaged in a two and a half year long post graduate Feldenkrais training in San Rafael. This first year has a focus on working with Special Needs Children. I am looking for children to work with that may have CP, MS, autism, birth trauma, brain trauma, traumatic injury, congenital challenges, or slow progress through stages of motor development including progressing from lying, crawling, to walking. Children can be any age from zero on up. Sessions are usually a half hour and are non-invasive and usually fun for the children. For this stage of my training I am not charging for my work. I am looking to gain as much hands on experience as I can to increase my proficiency and understanding of working with this population of kids. After graduation I am hoping to organize a low cost clinic with a focus on working with children with trauma, motor development issues, classes for parents, and community education. Currently my primary teacher is Anat Baniel, a Feldenkrais Teacher well known for her work with children. Her website has more information, articles, and on- line video on Feldenkrais work and the Anat Baniel Method for children. Anat Baniel Website: http: Web Link Anat Baniel Children's Podcast/Video: Web Link If you know of anybody with special needs children that may be interested in this work please call or email me for more information. Take Care, Brad Brad Beldner Integrated Bodywork 415 Cambridge Avenue #7 Palo Alto, CA 94306 bradbeldner@sbcglobal.net www.bradbeldner.com 650-329-9676

Yes, I'm every tired of this. RIght now, the primary moral obligation of anyone who is Jewish is to deal with the apartheid policies of the "Jewish state," as Israel calls itself, just as the world condemned apartheid in South Africa.

If you want to real story about Chabad Lubovitch, you have to start with Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 18, 1902  June 12, 1994), the prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh (and to date, final) Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

"Schneerson never visited the State of Israel, where he had many admirers and critics. He held a view that according to Jewish law, it was uncertain if a Jewish person who was in the land of Israel was allowed to leave.[citation needed] One of Israel's presidents, Zalman Shazar, who was of Chabad ancestry, and his visits to Rabbi Schneerson were cordial. Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, and later Benjamin Netanyahu also paid visits and sought advice, along with other less famous politicians, diplomats, military officials, and media producers. In the elections that brought Yitzhak Shamir to power, Schneerson publicly lobbied his followers and the Orthodox members in the Knesset to vote against the Labor alignment. It attracted the media's attention and led to articles in Time, Newsweek, and many newspapers and TV programs, and led to considerable controversy within Israeli politics.

During the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Schneerson publicly called for Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to capture Damascus, Syria and Cairo, Egypt. He was vehemently opposed to any IDF withdrawals from captured territories and opposed any concessions to Arabs.[citation needed] He lobbied Israeli politicians to pass legislation in accordance with Jewish religious law on the question Who is a Jew and declare that "only one who is born of a Jewish mother or converted according to Halakha is Jewish." This caused a furor in the United States. Some American Jewish philanthropies stopped financially supporting Chabad-Lubavitch since most of their members were connected to Reform and Conservative Judaism. These unpopular ideas were toned down by his aides according to Avrum Erlich. "The issue was eventually quietened so as to protect Habad fundraising interests. Controversial issues such as territorial compromise in Israel that might have estranged benefactors from giving much-needed funds to Habad, were often moderated, particularly by. . . Krinsky."[36] Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits argued that Habad moderated its presentation of anti-Zionist ideology and right-wing politics in England and downplayed its messianic fervor so as not to antagonize large parts of the English Jewish community."

And here is more information about Chabad messianism or Lubavitch messianism, namely the beliefs of some followers of Chabad who believe that their late leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson will be the Messiah:

"One of the principles of Jewish faith enumerated by Maimonides is that one day there will arise a dynamic Jewish leader, a direct descendant of the Davidic dynasty, who will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and gather Jews from all over the world and bring them back to the Land of Israel.

All the nations of the world will recognise Mashiach to be a world leader and will accept his dominion. In the messianic era there will be world peace, no more wars nor famine and, in general, a high standard of living.

All mankind will worship one Gd and live a more spiritual and moral way of life. The Jewish nation will be preoccupied with learning Torah and fathoming its secrets.

The coming of Mashiach will complete Gd's purpose in creation: for man to make an abode for Gd in the lower worlds; to reveal the inherent spirituality in the material world."

Oh-oh.

Where are the Jews going to build the third Temple?

On the Temple Mount?

Temple Mount is a platau on Mt Moriah which contains two Muslim shrines (Dome of the Rock and Al Aska Mosque) which are considered the third-most holiest shrines in all of Islam. The Jews say these shrines were built over the site of the Jewish Temple.

I enjoyed the story. If you are Jewish, you might enjoy visiting the Chabad web site (www.chabad.org). They have a lot of great information about Jewish holidays and spirituality generally. I was raised in a fairly secular conservative household, and although I attended Hebrew school, I find that now I have a lot of questions about rituals which can be answered by the good people at Chabad. You can even engage in a live chat with someone who can answer your specific questions. I share a bit of the fear that was mentioned in the story about being subject to a "hard sell," but I have started to meet some of the people who worship there, and I'm starting to see that's not true.

I think the above posts sadly reflect a lack of understanding about what it means to be Jewish. I find it disconcerting that criticism of Israel is starting to bleed over into criticism of Jews, which only reinforces the need for a country like Israel to begin with.

Thanks, Borat. For those of you unaware, Borat is portrayed by Sacha Baron-Cohen, an observant Jew.
Frankly, you can point out whatever you want. I'm pointing out that some of us apprecaite what Chabad does even if we aren't directly involved.